Stella confirms McLaren are allocating more resources to fix Oscar Piastri problem

Andrea Stella believes Oscar Piastri can deliver a Lando Norris-esque turnaround once McLaren’s latest work begins to produce results. That expectation follows another difficult weekend for Piastri at the Spanish Grand Prix, where first-lap front-wing damage contributed to an eighth-place finish.

The result widened the gap between McLaren’s drivers. Norris finished second after taking a superb pole position, while Piastri started from the fourth row. He has now been outqualified by his team-mate in nine of the last 11 races and trails Norris by 66 points in the standings.

The scale of the contrast is particularly striking because the pair finished last season just 13 points apart. Stella, however, does not view Piastri’s current downturn as a question of lost potential. Instead, McLaren’s team principal says Norris has made a significant progression while Piastri is still adapting to the demands of the car.

As Piastri’s Madrid race was derailed by first-lap damage and VSC timing, the immediate result underlined the difficulty of recovering when qualifying and opening-lap incidents put a driver on the back foot.

Stella: Norris has raised his level

Speaking to Channel 4 after the race, Stella described Norris’ improvement as a gradual elevation rather than a sudden transformation.

“On one side, I think Lando took a step forward,” Stella said. “We call it a step forward, the reality is just a gradual elevation of his performance, confidence in the car, ability to access his full potential and ultimately becoming better and better, race after race.”

The challenge for Piastri, according to Stella, is more fundamental. He reiterated that Piastri cannot yet drive the 2026 cars naturally and is almost having to rewire his racing instincts. The cars slide significantly, while the driver must constantly judge whether the limit is arriving through the front or rear axle.

“From a technical point of view, extracting the full performance from these cars that slide a lot, you never know if it’s front locking or rear locking, that’s still demanding Oscar to drive and think,” Stella explained.

McLaren repeats its support strategy

McLaren is now deploying more engineering resources on Piastri’s side of the garage, mirroring the approach used when Norris struggled during the first part of last season. At that time, resources shifted towards Norris, who subsequently won five races, compared with Piastri’s two.

Stella expects the same process to produce a similar response from Piastri, provided the team can help him become more in tune with the MCL40 and access his ability naturally.

“Like I always say to Oscar, ‘Let’s do it with serenity.’ I’m expecting the very same results,” he said.

The effort could also support McLaren’s pursuit of Ferrari in the constructors’ standings, with the team considering whether similar car changes can unlock Piastri’s performance.